Court won't reconsider decision on Wall St. insider trading

ASSOCIATED PRESS

April 3, 2015

Photo: Jason DeCrow, FRE

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announces charges against more than a dozen Russian diplomats and their spouses living in New York during a news conference Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 in New York. The charges stem from the defendants' alleged involvement in a $1.5 million fraud of a U.S. government health program for the poor. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announces charges against more than a...

NEW YORK - A federal appeals court refused Friday to reconsider a ruling that dealt a blow to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and the prosecution of insider trading on Wall Street.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling turning down a petition from Bharara's office. It said neither the three-judge panel that made the ruling in December nor the entire court would rehear the case.

The ruling in December reversed two convictions and appeared to narrow the definition of insider trading. It said the defendants involved - portfolio managers Anthony Chiasson and Todd Newman - were too far removed from the source of inside information to be prosecuted.

The court said the government's flurry of prosecutions, which produced more than 80 convictions since 2008, was "increasingly targeted at remote tippees many levels removed from corporate insiders." Prior cases generally involved defendants directly participating in the passing of secrets, the court said.

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